Milestones: 1937–1945 - Office of the Historian Milestones: 1937–1945 The Yalta Conference, 1945 The Yalta Conference took place in a Russian resort town in the Crimea from February 4–11, 1945, during World War Two. At Yalta, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin made important decisions regarding the future progress of the war and the postwar world. World Leaders at the Yalta Conference The Allied leaders came to Yalta knowing that an Allied victory in Europe was practically inevitable but less convinced that the Pacific war was nearing an end. Recognizing that a victory over Japan might require a protracted fight, the United States and Great Britain saw a major strategic advantage to Soviet participation in the Pacific theater. At Yalta, Roosevelt and Churchill discussed with Stalin the conditions under which the Soviet Union would enter the war against Japan and all three agreed that, in exchange for potentially crucial Soviet participation in the Pacific theater, the Soviets would be granted a sphere of influence in Manchuria following Japan’s surrender.

This included the southern portion of Sakhalin, a lease at Port Arthur (now Lüshunkou), a share in the operation of the Manchurian railroads, and the Kurile Islands. This agreement was the major concrete accomplishment of the Yalta Conference. The Allied leaders also discussed the future of Germany, Eastern Europe and the United Nations. Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin agreed not only to include France in the postwar governing of Germany, but also that Germany should assume some, but not all, responsibility for reparations following the war. The Americans and the British generally agreed that future governments of the Eastern European nations bordering the Soviet Union should be “friendly” to the Soviet regime while the Soviets pledged to allow free elections in all territories liberated from Nazi Germany. Negotiators also released a declaration on Poland, providing for the inclusion of Communists in the postwar national government. In discussions regarding the future of the United Nations, all parties agreed to an American plan concerning voting procedures in the Security Council, which had been expanded to five permanent members following the inclusion of France. Each of these permanent members was to hold a veto on decisions before the Security Council. Initial reaction to the Yalta agreements was celebratory.

Roosevelt and many other Americans viewed it as proof that the spirit of U.S.-Soviet wartime cooperation would carry over into the postwar period. This sentiment, however, was short lived. With the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt on April 12, 1945, Harry S. Truman became the thirty-third president of the United States. By the end of April, the new administration clashed with the Soviets over their influence in Eastern Europe, and over the United Nations. Alarmed at the perceived lack of cooperation on the part of the Soviets, many Americans began to criticize Roosevelt’s handling of the Yalta negotiations. To this day, many of Roosevelt’s most vehement detractors accuse him of “handing over” Eastern Europe and Northeast Asia to the Soviet Union at Yalta despite the fact that the Soviets did make many substantial concessions. The Yalta Conference (1945) The Yalta Conference (1945) The Yalta Conference, sometimes called the Crimea Conference and codenamed the Argonaut Conference, was the wartime meeting from February 4 to 11, 1945 between the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union.

The delegations were headed by Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin, respectively. Overview The key Allied leaders, Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill, were known as the "Big Three" because of the might of the nations they represented and their peaceful collaboration during World War II. These three leaders met together only twice during World War II, but when they did conference, their decisions changed the course of history. After the Tehran Conference, the three leaders promised to meet again, and this agreement came to pass at the Yalta Conference of February 1945. Although Stalin had expressed concern about Roosevelt's health during the Teheran conference, this concern did not translate into action. The Soviet dictator refused to travel further than the Black Sea Resort, Yalta, in the Crimean Riveria (then part of the Soviet Union, now part of Ukraine) for the next summit and, once again, Churchill and Roosevelt were both the ones taking long and tiring trips to attend the Yalta summit. Each of the three powers brought their own agenda to the Yalta Conference.

The British wanted to maintain their empire, the Soviets wished to obtain more land and to strengthen conquests, and the Americans wanted to insure the Soviet's entry into the Pacific war and discuss postwar settlement. Moreover, Roosevelt hoped to obtain a commitment from Stalin to participate in the United Nations. As the first topic on the Soviet's agenda for expansion, the subject of Poland immediately arose, and Stalin was quick to succintly state his case with the following words: "For the Russian people, the question of Poland is not only a question of honor but also a question of security. Throughout history, Poland has been the corridor through which the enemy has passed into Russia. Poland is a question of life and death for Russia." Accordingly, Stalin made it clear that some of his demands regarding Poland were not negotiable: the Russians were to gain territory from the eastern portion of Poland and Poland was to compensate for that by extending its Western borders, thereby forcing out millions of Germans. Reluctantly, Stalin promised free elections in Poland, notwithstanding the recently installed Communist puppet government. However, it soon became apparent that Stalin had no intentions of holding true to his promise of free elections.

In fact, it was fifty years after the Yalta Conference that the Poles first had the opportunity to hold free elections. As mentioned earlier, at Yalta a principal aim of Roosevelt was to make sure that the Soviets would enter the Asian war, i.e., the war against the Japanese. Unfortunately, however, Roosevelt should never have spent any time agonizing over Soviet involvement in the Pacific war because Stalin did not need convincing. The Soviets themselves were keen to assuage the intense feelings of humiliation that resulted from a long ago defeat by Japan and loss of privileges in Manchuria during the Russo-Japanese War. The Soviets were keen on regaining lost territories and optimistic that they could obtain more lands. However, Roosevelt was oblivious to Stalin's objectives because of Stalin's excellent 'poker face,' and he readily met Stalin's price, leaving the Yalta Conference exuberant because Stalin had agreed to enter the Pacific war against Japan. Moreover, the Soviets had agreed to join the United Nations given the secret understanding of a voting formula with a veto power for permanent members in the Security Council, there by providing the Soviets with more control in world affairs and greatly weakening the United Nations. Overall, Roosevelt felt confident that Yalta had been successful.

The Big Three had ratified previous agreements about the postwar division of Germany: there were to be four zones of occupation, one zone for each of the three dominant nations plus one zone for France. Berlin itself, although within the Soviet zone, would also be divided into four sectors, and would eventually become a major symbol of the Cold War because of the division of the city due to the infamous Berlin Wall, which was constructed and manned by the Soviets. The Big Three had further decided that all original governments would be restored to the invaded countries and that all civilians would repatriated. Democracies would be established, all territories would hold free elections, and order restored to Europe, as declared in the following official statement: "The establishment of order in Europe and the rebuilding of national economic life must be achieved by processes which will enable the liberated peoples to destroy the last vestiges of Nazism and fascism and to create democratic institutions of their own choice." In the postwar setting, Russia would gain the southern half of the Sakhalin Islands and Kuriles, half of East Prussia, Konigsberg, Germany, and control of Finland.

In addition, Roosevelt let it slip that the United States would not protest if the Soviet Union attempted to annex the three Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) or establish puppet governments, therefore leaving Stalin as pleased with the overall results as Roosevelt, and more rightly so. The Yalta Conference is often regarded by numerous Central European nations as the "Western betrayal." This belief, held by countries such as Poland, Slovakia, Romania, and the Czech Republic, is rooted in the belief that the Allied powers, despite venerating democratic policies and signing numerous pacts and military agreements, allowed smaller countries to be controlled by and/or made Communist states of the Soviet Union. At the Yalta conference, the Big Three "attempted to sacrifice freedom for the sake of stability," and many believe the decisions and concessions of Roosevelt and Churchill during the summit lead to the power struggle of the ensuing Cold War. The meeting The conference was held in Yalta, a resort town on the Crimean peninsula in the Soviet Union (now in Ukraine). The American delegation was housed in the Tsar's former palace, while President Roosevelt stayed at the Livadia Palace where the meetings took place. The British delegation was installed in Prince Vorontsov's castle of Alupka.

Key members of the delegations were Edward Stettinius, Averell Harriman, Anthony Eden, Alexander Cadogan, and Vyacheslav Molotov. According to Anthony Beevor, all the rooms were bugged by the NKVD. Stalin arrived by train on February 4. The meeting started with an official dinner on the evening of that day. Major points * There was agreement that the priority was the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany. After the war, the country would be split into four occupied zones, with a quadripartite occupation of Berlin as well. * Stalin agreed to let France get the fourth occupation zone in Germany and Austria, carved out from the British and American zones. France would also be granted a seat in the Allied Control Council. * Germany would undergo demilitarization and denazification. * Creation of an allied reparation council with its seat in Moscow. * The status of Poland was discussed but was complicated by the fact that Poland by this time was under the control of the red army. It was agreed to reorganize the Provisionary Polish Government that had been set up by the Red Army through the inclusion of other groups as the Polish Provisional Government of National Unity to be followed by democratic elections.

(This effectively excluded the exile Polish government that had formed in London). * The Polish eastern border should basically follow the Curzon Line, and Poland should receive substantial territorial compensation in the west from Germany. * Citizens of the Soviet Union and of Yugoslavia were to be handed over to their respective countries, regardless of their consent. * Roosevelt obtained a commitment by Stalin to participate in the United Nations once it was agreed that each of the five permanent members of the Security Council would have veto power. * Stalin agreed to enter the fight against the Empire of Japan within 90 days after the defeat of Germany. The Soviet Union would receive the southern part of Sakhalin and the Kurile islands after the defeat of Japan. Aftermath Yalta was the last great conference before the end of the war and the last trip of Roosevelt abroad. To observers he appeared already ill and exhausted. Arguably, his most important goal was to ensure the Soviet Union's participation in the United Nations, which he achieved at the price of granting veto power to each permanent member of the Security Council, a condition that significantly weakened the UN. Another of his objectives was to bring the Soviet Union into the fight against Japan, as the effectiveness of the atomic bomb had yet to be proven.

The Red Army had already removed Nazi forces from most of Eastern Europe, so Stalin essentially got everything he wanted: a significant sphere of influence as a buffer zone. In this process, the freedom of small nations was somehow expendable and sacrificed for the sake of stability, which would mean that the Baltic countries of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia would continue to be members of the USSR. Big three meet in 1945.... Yalta Conference... - RareNewspapers.com Big three meet in 1945.... Yalta Conference... THE SPRINGFIELD UNION, Massachusetts, February 14, 1945 * Franklin D. Roosevelt * Yalta Conference... World War II era This 14 page newspaper has a six column headline on the front page: "U. S. to Prevent Russian-British Rivalry in Europe, Byrnes Says" with subheads. Other news of the day throughout including much on World War II. Light browning with some margin wear, otherwise in good condition. source: wikipedia: On 4 February 1945 the Big Three (Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin) convened at Yalta, on the Crimean Peninsula.

It was the second of three wartime conferences among the major Allied Power leaders. It had been preceded by the Tehran Conference in 1943, and it was followed by the Potsdam Conference, which Harry S. Truman attended in place of the late Roosevelt, in 1945. Premier Stalin refused to travel farther West than the Black Sea resort of Yalta, in the Crimea because he could not fly. Each leader had an agenda for the Yalta Conference: Roosevelt asked for Soviet support in the U.S. Pacific War against Japan, specifically invading Japan proper; Churchill pressed for free elections and democratic governments in Eastern Europe (specifically Poland); and Stalin demanded a Soviet sphere of political influence in Eastern Europe, as essential to the USSR's national security. Moreover, all three leaders were trying to establish an agenda for governing post-war Germany. In 1943, William Bullitt's thesis prophesied the “flow of the Red amoeba into Europe”—Stalin's only weakness—given that the Red Army physically controlled most of Eastern Europe and had penetrated the Third Reich's eastern borders, while the Allies were occupied with invading France. At the time of the Conference, Marshall Georgy Zhukov was forty miles from Berlin.

Moreover, Roosevelt hoped for Stalin's commitment to participate in the United Nations. Concerning the first item of the Soviet agenda—Eastern Europe—Poland immediately arose; Stalin stated the Russian case so: “For the Russian people, the question of Poland is not only a question of honour, but also a question of security. Throughout history, Poland has been the corridor through which the enemy has passed into Russia. Poland is a question of life and death for Russia.” Accordingly, Stalin stipulated some of his Polish demands were not negotiable: the Russians would keep the territory from eastern Poland, and Poland was to compensate for that by extending its Western borders, thereby forcing out millions of Germans. Stalin promised free elections in Poland despite the recently-installed Communist puppet government. However the Western Powers soon saw that Stalin would not honour his free elections promise. The elections, held in January 1947 resulted in Poland's official transformation to a socialist state by 1949; they were considered rigged to favour pro-Soviet political parties.[citation needed] Roosevelt was concerned about the USSR entering the Pacific War with the Allies. One Communist precondition for said declaration of war against Japan was a USA–USSR recognition of Mongolian independence from China.

The agreement was effected without diplomatic negotiations with China. Some six months after the Yalta Conference, the USSR formally declared war against Japan and the Red Army seized northern parts of the Japanese archipelago. Later this was disputed between Russia and Japan; Russia did not sign the San Francisco Peace Treaty with Japan and no separate peace treaty had been signed between Russia and Japan as of 2007. A Big Three meeting room. A Big Three meeting room. Roosevelt met Stalin's price hoping the USSR could be dealt via the United Nations Later, right-wing Americans considered the agreements effected in the Yalta Conference as a 'sellout' for encouraging Soviet expansion of influence to Japan and Asia and because Stalin eventually violated the agreements in forming the Soviet bloc. Furthermore the Soviets had agreed to join the United Nations, given the secret understanding of a voting formula with a veto power for permanent members of the Security Council, thus ensuring that each country could block unwanted decisions. It is possible that Roosevelt's failing health (Yalta was his last major conference before dying of cerebral hemorrhage) was partially to blame for such poor judgment. At the time the Red Army occupied and held much of Eastern Europe with military three times greater than U.S. General Dwight D.

Eisenhower's forces. The Big Three had ratified previous agreements about the postwar division of Germany: three zones of occupation, one for each dominant nation (France later received one when the USA and the UK ceded parts of their zones). Berlin itself, although in the Russian zone would also be divided into three sectors (and eventually became a Cold War symbol because of the division's realization via the Berlin Wall, built and manned by the Soviet-backed East German government). Also, the Big Three decided that all original governments would be restored to the invaded countries and that all civilians would be repatriated. Democracies would be established and all countries would hold free elections and European order restored per this statement: “The establishment of order in Europe, and the rebuilding of national economic life, must be achieved by processes which will enable the liberated peoples to destroy the last vestiges of Nazism and fascism and to create democratic institutions of their own choice." [edit] Major points Key points of the meeting are as follows: * There was an agreement that the priority would be the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany. After the war Germany would be split into four occupied zones with a quadripartite occupation of Berlin, prior to unification of Germany.

* Stalin agreed to let France have the fourth occupation zone in Germany and Austria carved out from the British and American zones. France would also be granted a seat in the Allied Control Council. * Germany would undergo demilitarization and denazification. * German reparations were not the form of forced labor. (see also Eisenhower and German POWs) * Creation of an allied reparation council with its seat in Moscow. * The status of Poland was discussed, but was complicated by the fact that Poland was at this time under the control of the Red Army. It was agreed to reorganize the Provisionary Polish Government that had been set up by the Red Army through the inclusion of other groups such as the Polish Provisional Government of National Unity and to have democratic elections. This effectively excluded the Polish government-in-exile that had evacuated in 1939. * The Polish eastern border would follow the Curzon Line, and Poland would receive substantial territorial compensation in the west from Germany, although the exact border was to be determined at a later time. * Citizens of the Soviet Union and of Yugoslavia were to be handed over to their respective countries, regardless of their consent.

* Roosevelt obtained a commitment by Stalin to participate in the United Nations once it was agreed that each of the five permanent members of the Security Council would have veto power. Churchill lobbied heavily to get France in the Security Council. * Stalin agreed to enter the fight against the Empire of Japan within 90 days after the defeat of Germany. The Soviet Union would receive the southern part of Sakhalin and the Kurile islands after the defeat of Japan. * A "Committee on Dismemberment of Germany" was to be set up. The purpose was to decide whether Germany was to be divided into several nations, and if so, what borders and inter-relationships the new German states were to have. 5th February 1945: Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin meet at Yalta January 1945 Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin meet at Yalta ‘The Big Three’: Winston Churchill, Franklin D Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin sit for photographs during the Yalta Conference in February 1945. President Roosevelt and Winston Churchill confer during a lunch break at the Livadia Palace during the Yalta Conference. On the 5th February the ‘Big Three’ met once more, this time in the Crimean resort of Yalta.

There were momentous decisions to be reached about how Germany was to be divided up after the war, whether they should seek reparations from Germany, how the new United Nations ‘World Organisation’ was going to operate, and much more. The Soviet Union’s entire economy had been thrown over to war production and, with most of western Russia laid waste, there were few resources spare even for this international event. The plumbing for the partially rebuilt buildings that would accommodate the dignitaries had had to come from various Moscow hotels, where it would be returned after the conference – never to work satisfactorily ever again. Maureen Stuart-Clark was a Women’s Royal Naval Service aide to Admiral James Somerville, who she referred to as ‘Uncle Jim’, one of the British delegates. She was very impressed with the female Soviet Army guards, armed with Tommy guns, who were ‘immense, tough and had the largest legs I had ever seen’. She was not quite so impressed with some of the other arrangements: Eventually we arrived at the Voronthov [sic] Palace where the British Chiefs of Staff were going to be accommodated. It was quite the ugliest place I have ever seen — built in a mixture of Moorish and Gothic styles.

The entrance at either end was Gothic with castle like turrets and gate, while the centre was Moorish with minarettes [sic] and domes. It had been built for Prince Yusof who killed Rasputin and had not been destroyed because it had been promised to the German General who captured the Crimea, and had left it till too late to destroy it. We found the rest of us were housed in two sanatoriums between five and ten minutes drive down the road. They had been old Palaces, partially destroyed by the Germans and rebuilt especially for this occasion. We spent the first event desperately trying to organise luggage, office papers etc. and tempers were fairly short. Most of the Kremlin guard had come down to act as guards and sentries, and they looked very smart in their khaki uniforms with their high boots, red and blue caps, gold braid etc. They had sent down hordes of interpreters from Moscow — mainly women — who spoke excellent English although they had never left the country. Actually the whole thing was rather superficial and unreal.

Russia is definitely a hard, ruthless country and yet they had laid on the most terrific show for the British, which includes maids in caps, aprons and high heeled shoes which they had never worn before and consequently presented a ludicrous spectacle wobbling unsteadily around; interpreters in new suits and stockings so they would not be inferior to us; vodka, champagne, smoked salmon etc. when the only ration they themselves are certain of getting is black bread; it rather disappointed me as one thought they could have afforded to say ‘We’ve done jolly well on this so you ought to try it and jolly well like it’. The water was unsafe to drink and the only liquid there was to swallow was the vodka, champagne etc. so we spent the whole time either very definitely muzzy or else parched with thirst! They even brought a lemon tree all the way from Batoum so that there would be lemon for the drinks, but they never thought to provide a simple plug for the basins! The sanitary arrangements were the most peculiar thing. In our place there was a bath and three showers all in a little hut together down the garden.

There was a sweet peasant girl in attendance who scrubbed your back vigorously, irrespective of your sex, in fact there was considerable trouble at first as they all bath and swim in the nude together and couldn’t understand our reluctance to bath with Major Generals or Naval officers at the same time. You ploughed down the garden in your great coat and hoped you wouldn’t get pneumonia returning. But — the lavatory situation was the grimmest. In the Palace there was a total of 3, one of which was kept for the private use of the P.M. The other two had to provide for the use of the 3 Chiefs of Staff, General Ismay, F.M.s [Field Marshals] Alexander and Wilson, U.J.[Uncle Jim], Anthony Eden, Lord Leathers, Sir Ralph Metcalf, lots of foreign office boys, typists, clerks, sentries, maids, interpreters, Marine orderlies and all the visitors. The result was that we lost all shame and openly discussed the best bushes in the garden which was the only solution.

Follow the war as it happened … World War II: Yalta Conference World War II: Yalta Conference World War II: Yalta Conference Churchill, Roosevelt, & Stalin at the Yalta Conference, February 1945. Photograph Source: Public Domain Updated August 11, 2015. Yalta Conference Overview: In early 1945, with World War II in Europe drawing to a close, Franklin Roosevelt (United States), Winston Churchill ( Great Britain ), and Joseph Stalin (USSR) agreed to meet to discuss war strategy and issues that would affect the postwar world. Dubbed the "Big Three," the Allied leaders had met previously in November 1943, at the Tehran Conference . Seeking a neutral site for the meeting, Roosevelt suggested a gathering somewhere on the Mediterranean. While Churchill was in favor, Stalin refused citing that his doctors prohibited him from making any long trips. In lieu of the Mediterranean, Stalin proposed the Black Sea resort of Yalta. Eager to meet face to face, Roosevelt agreed to Stalin's request. As the leaders traveled to Yalta, Stalin was in the strongest position as Soviet troops were a mere forty miles from Berlin.

This was reinforced by the "home court" advantage of hosting the meeting in the USSR. Further weakening the western Allies' position was Roosevelt's failing health and Britain's increasingly junior position relative to the US and USSR. With the arrival of all three delegations, the conference opened on February 4, 1945. Each leader came to Yalta with an agenda. Roosevelt desired Soviet military support against Japan following the defeat of Germany and Soviet participation in the United Nations , while Churchill was focused on securing free elections for Soviet-liberated countries in Eastern Europe. Counter to Churchill's desire, Stalin sought to build a Soviet sphere of influence in Eastern Europe to protect against future threats. In addition to these long-term issues, the three powers also needed to develop a plan for governing postwar Germany. Shortly after the meeting opened, Stalin took a firm stance on the issue of Poland, citing that twice in the previous thirty years it had been used as an invasion corridor by the Germans. Furthermore, he stated that the Soviet Union would not return the land annexed from Poland in 1939, and that the nation could be compensated with land taken from Germany.

While these terms were non-negotiable, he was willing to agree to free elections in Poland. While the latter pleased Churchill, it soon became clear that Stalin had no intention of honoring this promise. In regard to Germany, it was decided that the defeated nation would be divided into three zones of occupation, one for each of the Allies, with a similar plan for the city of Berlin. While Roosevelt and Churchill advocated for a fourth zone for the French, Stalin would only acquiesce if the territory was taken from the American and British zones. After reasserting that only unconditional surrender would be acceptable the Big Three agreed that Germany would undergo demilitarization and denazification, as well as that some war reparations would be in the form of forced labor. Pressing on the issue of Japan, Roosevelt secured a promise from Stalin to enter the conflict ninety days after the defeat of Germany. In return for Soviet military support, Stalin demanded and received American diplomatic recognition of Mongolian independence from Nationalist China. Caving on this point, Roosevelt hoped to deal with the Soviets through the United Nations, which Stalin did agree to join after voting procedures in the Security Council were defined.

Returning to European affairs, it was jointly agreed that the original, prewar governments would be returned to liberated countries. Exceptions were made in the cases of France, whose government had become collaborationist, and Romania and Bulgaria where the Soviets had effectively dismantled the governmental systems. Further supporting this was a statement that all displaced civilians would be returned to their countries of origin. Ending on February 11, the three leaders departed Yalta in a celebratory mood. This initial view of the conference was shared by the people in each nation, but ultimately proved short-lived. With Roosevelt's death in April 1945, relations between the Soviets and the West became increasingly tense. As Stalin reneged on promises concerning Eastern Europe, perception of Yalta changed and Roosevelt was blamed for effectively ceding Eastern Europe to the Soviets. While his poor health may have affected his judgment, Roosevelt was able to secure some concessions from Stalin during the meeting. Despite this, many came to view the meeting as a sellout that greatly encouraged Soviet expansion in Eastern Europe and northeast Asia. The leaders of the Big Three would meet again that July for the Potsdam Conference .

During the meeting, Stalin was effectively able to have the decisions of Yalta ratified as he was able to take advantage of new US President Harry S. Truman and a change of power in Britain that saw Churchill replaced partway through the conference by Clement Attlee. Selected Sources 'Big Three' meet at Yalta > Eastern Front > Key Moments > WW2History.com 'Big Three' meet at Yalta Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin met together for the last time at Yalta On 3 February 1945, Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt arrived at Yalta, a resort on the southern coast of the Crimea on the Black Sea. They were there to meet with Stalin to discuss the final attack on the Germans and Japanese and the future of the post-war world. They were meeting in the Crimea – a place Churchill described as the ‘Riviera of Hades’ – rather than anywhere else, for one simple reason; Stalin controlled where they met. It had been Stalin who had said that he would only meet the British and American leaders in Tehran back in November 1943, and it had been Stalin who had insisted this meeting would be on Soviet territory in the Crimea. It was a small – but significant – sign of Stalin’s power.

Much has been written about Roosevelt’s physical appearance at the Yalta conference. Hugh Lunghi, who was there as part of the British mission, was shocked to see the American President: ‘His face was waxen to a sort of yellow, waxen and very drawn, very thin, and a lot of the time he was sort of sitting there with his mouth open sort of staring ahead. So that was quite a shock.’ Roosevelt would be dead less than four months after Yalta, and he was clearly a sick man already. But what is certain is that, despite his obvious ill-health, Roosevelt’s aims and strategies for the conference were in perfect sync with his previously expressed views. His illness did not prevent his politics from being consistent. The problem for the future of the world – at least in the eyes of Roosevelt’s critics – was that the American President was not overly concerned with the fate of Eastern Europe, with the exception of the fate of post-war Germany. Roosevelt’s focus was primarily on one practical measure – he wanted to get the Soviet Union to commit to fighting the Japanese after Germany had been defeated – and one ‘visionary’ measure – he wanted to get the Soviet Union to play an active part in the founding of the United Nations.

Churchill, on the other hand, arrived at Yalta much more focused on European issues – principally the seemingly never-to-be-resolved question of the future of Poland. The trouble he faced was that he had talked with near brutal frankness to Stalin, back in October on his visit to Moscow, about the relative ‘percentages’ of ‘influence’ that the Soviet Union and Britain/America should have over a number of Eastern European countries. This – to Churchill – had already resulted in the Communist control of Greece being prevented. But now, having seemingly ‘given away’ influence in other countries like Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria, how could he have a non-brutal, ‘honourable’ conversation about Poland – a country that had deliberately been excluded by Churchill from the ‘percentages’ deal? As for Stalin, he was clearly looking to consolidate Soviet influence over the territory of Eastern Europe – territory that his troops had shed blood to gain.

‘Stalin behaves as if the only interests that are worth considering in the march across Europe are Soviet interests,’ says Professor Robert Service, talking of Stalin’s actions at Yalta, ‘and that the peoples of Eastern Europe and East Central Europe are lucky to be liberated and they should accept their liberation by the Red Army with grateful hands and allow the Red Army to do virtually as it wanted. So the future history of Eastern Europe is already there in 1944 and in 1945 – that there was going to be one superior state that’s going to have the right to act as it wants in Eastern Europe at the end of the Second World War. And it has won that right by all of the sacrifices of Soviet people in the so-called Great Patriotic War… We don’t yet know quite what was in Stalin’s mind, and we’ll never know because he didn’t keep a diary, but we can look at what he did in 1945 or earlier in 1944. He plans for an Eastern Europe that is subject to Soviet influence.

That’s not the same as an Eastern Europe that’s fully communised, but it does mean that communist political influence is going to be very strong in those countries.’ The most divisive issue at the conference remained Poland. Though the boundaries of the new Poland had effectively been decided – like so much else – at the Tehran conference back in November 1943, there remained questions of detail, particularly about how the newly created Poland should be governed. Stalin had established his own puppet government of Poland – know as the ‘Lublin Poles’ – whilst the British and the Americans still supported the Polish government-in-exile based in London. Ultimately, at Yalta, both Churchill and Roosevelt decided to accept Stalin’s assurance that the Soviets would conduct free and democratic elections in Poland, and that a few of the politicians from the Polish government-in-exile would be absorbed into the new ruling group of Poland. It was scarcely a ringing declaration from the West that guaranteed the freedom and independence of the new Poland.

In fact, as Admiral William Leahy told Roosevelt, ‘this [the agreement on Poland] is so elastic that the Russians can stretch it all the way from Yalta to Washington without even technically breaking it.’ Roosevelt simply replied, ‘I know Bill, but it is the best I can do for Poland at this time.’i But that was only half true, because Roosevelt had decided to focus on other – to him more important – issues at Yalta. And on both of Roosevelt’s key concerns – Japan and the UN – Stalin seemed to be amenable, agreeing to come into the war against the Japanese three months after the end of the war in Europe (in part in exchange for some Japanese territory) and to co-operate with the foundation of the United Nations. As for the issue of what territory in Eastern Europe fell under the influence of the Soviet Union, that was not high on FDR’s agenda. ‘Roosevelt was pressured by Eleanor Roosevelt about the Baltics,’ says Professor Robert Dallek. ‘He was pressured by the Poles about what he was doing for Poland. And behind the scenes he’s contemptuous of this.

He says at one point: ‘Do you expect me to go to war with Stalin over the Baltics?’ Sure, democracy, freedom, the rhetoric tumbles off their lips; the declaration of liberty for the East, a declaration of freedom for the liberated countries from Nazi control in Eastern Europe; it’s rhetoric.’ Given that Stalin was to break his promises on Poland after Yalta, and given that within months after Yalta the relationship between the Soviet Union and the West was to deteriorate so badly, it’s easy to believe that Churchill and Roosevelt were either conned by Stalin or just shut their eyes to the true nature of his regime. But as Professor David Reynolds says, the truth is not that simple: ‘Every time you have a conference with the Russians all through the war the British and the Americans have this sense that it’s better than the last one… So there’s this feeling that they’re difficult, nasty people and all the rest of it, but we’re making progress. Okay, they treat some of their minorities badly and all the rest of it, but you sort of push that aside. And then the other thing I think is that these leaders, Churchill and Roosevelt, are saying to themselves at the back of their mind: what alternative do we have?

If we say the Bear hasn’t changed its spots, if you’ll let me mix the metaphor, the Russian Bear is essentially the same, as brutal and as bloody as ever. What prospect does that open up for Europe? Better to go with our hopes than surrender to our fears, because by the end of 1943 it’s clear that the Soviet Union and the Red Army are going to be a force in Eastern Europe, and really there’s nothing you can do in London or Washington to stop that. The decisions, in a sense, have already been made by default through delaying the second front [i.e. the invasion of France by the Western Allies], if that was ever a real alternative. So all that you can try and do is ameliorate the situation in Eastern Europe. Indeed, that’s what Roosevelt says before he goes to Yalta to the senators. He says, look, what we’re going to try and do is ameliorate the situation in Poland as we can’t change it. So there is a sort of fact of life there that the Soviet Union is going to be a force to be reckoned with, and that’s part of why they’re trying to make the best they can of it.

Roosevelt says during the Tehran conference when they have a conversation about Poland, ‘Wake me up when we get to Germany, I don’t care two hoots about Poland.’ And what he’s expressing there, and it’s the same for people like Cordell Hull, his Secretary of State, is that what matters is the big picture for the post-war world. It’s setting up a framework of great power co-operation within the general institutional structure of the United Nations. And if you can do that, particularly if you can get the Soviet Union in it, that’s what really matters compared to the suspicion and the alienation of the inter-war years.’ But, as far as Sir Max Hastings is concerned there was another reality operating at Yalta. ‘Churchill was also naïve,’ he says. ‘Churchill worked himself up into an almost emotional fever in his distress about the sacrifice of Poland and the fact that Polish freedom, which Britain had gone into the Second World War for, was to be sacrificed to the Russians.

But Churchill refused to recognise the logic of his own position, that if the Western Allies had been serious about wanting to see that Eastern Europe was free, they would have had to have got into the war on a very big scale and they would have had to have had D-Day in 1943. If they then fought like tigers and accepted casualties many times the scale of those that they did, then they might have been able to save Eastern Europe and Poland from the Russians, though even then it’s pretty doubtful. But what would have happened if Roosevelt and Churchill had gone to their own electorates and said: ‘We are actually going to launch a major campaign on the continent which is going to cost hundreds of thousands of extra lives, not in order to accelerate the defeat of Hitler, but in order to make sure that all these poor Polish and Romanian and Czech and Hungarian peoples don’t fall prey to the wicked Russians.’ No British or American government could have survived that because the other thing one has to remember is the colossal popular enthusiasm for Russia, especially in Britain. British people are saying that they thought Russia was absolutely wonderful.

Reading people’s diaries from that period it is absolutely extraordinary, the euphoric expressions of enthusiasm for Uncle Joe Stalin and what he was doing.’ So was Yalta – particularly the failure to get Stalin to agree an enforceable political process that would lead to a democratic Poland – a ‘betrayal’ of the democratic ideals that Britain and America had enshrined in the Atlantic Charter in 1941? Indeed, was it betrayal of the very ideals that underpinned the decision to send so many soldiers of the Western Allies into battle in the first place? ‘It’s a betrayal of the ideals,’ says Andrew Roberts, ‘because we went to war for the integrity of Poland and the independence of Poland. In fact what we wanted in April 1939 was a trip wire for Hitler, something that triggered a war. It could have been Poland, it could have been anywhere else frankly, the key thing was to get us into a war with Germany before Hitler took anymore of Europe.

One could argue forever about whether or not it would have been better to have done it earlier at Munich but certainly by the time Poland was invaded there was no alternative.’ ‘But what we didn’t ever promise to the Poles was that we were going to be able to land an army on the other side of Europe. We didn’t ever promise them that we were going to attack Germany from the west, and we were in no position to do so either. So in that sense it was a betrayal of the ideals, but I’m not sure if it was really a betrayal of the country itself because there was simply nothing that could be done short of using a nuclear bomb, or threatening to, which was obviously impossible against our great and glorious comrade that had lost 20 million people fighting the Nazis. The key thing at Yalta was to try to get Stalin to stump up with the promise to go to war with Japan three months after the end of the war in Europe and also to try and get the Soviet Union into the United Nations organisation that was going to be set up after the war as well. After that you came up with free elections in Eastern Europe and so it wasn’t even the prime desiderata of the British and Americans.

I think as well as wishful thinking there was a sense that the kinder and nicer you were to Stalin the more likely it would be that he was going to come into a world organisation that was inclusive... This sounds ridiculous coming from somebody who had, after all, denounced appeasements, which were precisely the same thing effectively only a decade earlier, but I think Churchill was an appeaser to the USSR up to and including Yalta.’ When Churchill returned from Yalta he told ministers that ‘Poor Neville Chamberlain believed he could trust Hitler. He was wrong. But I don’t think I’m wrong about Stalin.’ii But, on the contrary, the next few months would demonstrate to Churchill that he had made just the same error as ‘poor’ Chamberlain had. Stalin had his own agenda for Eastern Europe. And it most certainly did not include the formation of a free and democratic Poland. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- i Quoted in James MacGregor Burns, Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom, Harvest Books, 2002, p.

572 ii Quoted in the entry for 23rd February 1945 in Ben Pimlott (ed.), The Political Diary of Hugh Dalton 1918-40, 1945-60, Jonathan Cape, 1987, p. 836 RELATED CONTENT Yalta Conference Yalta Conference Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin at Yalta in 1945. Contents [ edit ] Overview On the 4th of February 1945 the Big Three (Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin) convened at Yalta , on the Crimean Peninsula . It was the second of the large war time conferences, preceded by Tehran in 1943 , and succeeded by Potsdam (after Roosevelt's death) later in 1945. After the Tehran Conference in 1943, the three leaders promised to meet again, resulting in the conference held in Yalta in Ukraine. Although Stalin had expressed concern about Roosevelt's health during the Tehran conference, this concern did not translate into action.

The Soviet leader refused to travel farther than the Black Sea Resort of Yalta in the Crimean Riviera (then part of the Soviet Union) for the next meeting and, once again, Churchill and Roosevelt took long trips to attend the Yalta summit. Each of the three powers brought their own agenda to the Yalta Conference. Roosevelt was lobbying for Soviet support in the Pacific War concerning the invasion of the Empire of Japan; Churchill was pressing for free elections and democratic institutions in Eastern Europe (specifically Poland), while Stalin was attempting to establish a Soviet sphere of influence in Eastern Europe which the Soviets thought was essential to Soviet national security. Additionally all three of them were trying to establish an agenda on how to govern post-war Germany. In 1943 a thesis by William Bullitt prophesied the “flow of the Red amoeba into Europe” and ironically enough, Stalin had the military advantage. The Soviet Union was physically in control of most of Eastern Europe . While the Allies were occupied with the invasion of France, at great cost the Soviet Red Army had penetrated the eastern borders of the Third Reich . At the time of Yalta, Russian Marshall Zhukov was only forty miles from Berlin.

Moreover, Roosevelt hoped to obtain a commitment from Stalin to participate in the United Nations . Concerning the first topic on the Soviets' agenda — Eastern Europe — the subject of Poland immediately arose. Stalin was quick to state his case with the following words: "For the Russian people, the question of Poland is not only a question of honor but also a question of security. Throughout history, Poland has been the corridor through which the enemy has passed into Russia. Poland is a question of life and death for Russia." Accordingly, Stalin made it clear that some of his demands regarding Poland were not negotiable: the Russians were to keep territory from the eastern portion of Poland and Poland was to compensate for that by extending its Western borders, thereby forcing out millions of Germans. Stalin promised free elections in Poland, notwithstanding the recently installed Communist puppet government. However, it soon became apparent that Stalin had no intentions of holding true to his promise of free elections. The elections, which were held in January 1947 and resulted in the official transformation of Poland into a socialist state by 1949 , were widely considered rigged in favour of communist parties. Roosevelt's concern about the USSR entering the Pacific War on the side of Allies can be seen as misplaced.

In fact, some argue that Stalin was anxious to reverse the humiliation and territorial losses during the Russo-Japanese War , and hoped to extend Soviet influence into East Asia . However there is some dispute to whether Roosevelt would ever allow Soviet troops to land in Japan , as can be seen by President Truman's decision to drop the nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki , effectively preventing an invasion. Image:Livadiya Conference.JPG A room of the palace where the Big Three met. Roosevelt met Stalin's price, hoping that the USSR could be dealt with through the U.N. Some Americans later considered Yalta to be a 'sellout,' because it encouraged the Soviets to expand their influence into Japan and Asia and also because Stalin eventually violated the terms by forming the Soviet bloc. Furthermore, the Soviets agreed to join the United Nations given the secret understanding of a voting formula with a veto power for permanent members in the Security Council , thus ensuring that each country could block unwanted decisions. Some critics suggested that Roosevelt's failing health (Yalta was his last major conference before he died from a cerebral hemorrhage ) was to blame for his seemingly poor judgement.

At the time, the USSR had troops in much of Eastern Europe with a military about three times as large as Eisenhower 's forces. The Big Three had ratified previous agreements about the postwar division of Germany: there were to be three zones of occupation, one zone for each of the three dominant nations (France would later get a portion when the USA and Great Britain divided up parts of their zones and gave them to France). Berlin itself, although within the Soviet zone, would also be divided into three sectors, and would eventually become a major symbol of the Cold War because of the division of the city due to the infamous Berlin Wall , constructed and manned by the Soviet-backed Communist East German government. The Big Three had further decided that all original governments would be restored to the invaded countries and that all civilians would be repatriated.

Democracies would be established, all territories would hold free elections, and order would be restored to Europe, as declared in the following official statement: "The establishment of order in Europe and the rebuilding of national economic life must be achieved by processes which will enable the liberated peoples to destroy the last vestiges of Nazism and fascism and to create democratic institutions of their own choice." In postwar Asia, Russia would gain the southern half of the Sakhalin Islands and Kuriles , and in Europe the northern half of the German province of East Prussia (present day Kaliningrad ). The nationalists and anti-communists in the Eastern European nations often regard the Yalta Conference as the “ Western betrayal .” This is due to the belief that the Allied powers, despite venerating democratic policies, sold out the Eastern Europeans to ensure their own prosperity over the next 50 years. [1] Image:Livadia Palace Crimea.jpg The meetings of three leaders took place in the Grand Livadia Palace . The conference was held in Yalta , a resort town on the Crimean peninsula in the Soviet Union (now in Ukraine ). The American delegation was housed in the Tsar 's former palace, while President Roosevelt stayed at the Livadia Palace where the meetings took place.

The British delegation was installed in Prince Vorontsov 's castle of Alupka . Key members of the delegations were Edward Stettinius , Averell Harriman , Anthony Eden , Alexander Cadogan , and Vyacheslav Molotov . According to Anthony Beevor , all the rooms were bugged by the NKVD . Stalin arrived by train on February 4 . The meeting started with an official dinner that evening. [ edit ] Major points Key points of the meeting are as follows: There was an agreement that the priority would be the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany . After the war, Germany would be split into four occupied zones, with a quadripartite occupation of Berlin as well. Stalin agreed to let France have the fourth occupation zone in Germany and Austria, carved out from the British and American zones. France would also be granted a seat in the Allied Control Council . A new organization, ( the United Nations ) should be set up to replace the failed League of Nations . [ edit ] Roosevelt objectives versus Stalin objectives Yalta was the last great conference before the end of the war in Europe and the death of President Roosevelt, and the last trip Roosevelt took abroad. To observers he appeared already ill and exhausted.

Arguably, his most important goal was to ensure the Soviet Union's participation in the United Nations , which he achieved at the price of granting veto power to each permanent member of the Security Council. Another of his objectives was to bring the Soviet Union into the fight against Japan, as the effectiveness of the atomic bomb had yet to be proven. As a reward, Soviet Union was allowed to seize Sakhalin and Kuril Islands , which used to be under Japanese sovereignty, and some other privileges in colonial China remained intact. The Red Army had already removed Nazi forces from most of Eastern Europe, so Stalin obtained his goals: a significant sphere of influence as a buffer zone. In this process, the freedom of small nations was sacrificed for the sake of stability, which meant that the Baltic countries of Latvia , Lithuania and Estonia would continue to be members of the USSR. The Yalta Conference commences - Feb 04, 1945 - HISTORY.com The Yalta Conference commences Publisher A+E Networks On this day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Premier Joseph Stalin meet at Yalta, in the Crimea, to discuss and plan the postwar world—namely, to address the redistribution of power and influence.

It is at Yalta that many place the birth of the Cold War. It had already been determined that a defeated Germany would be sliced up into zones occupied by the United States, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union, the principal Allied powers. Once in Germany, the Allies would see to the deconstruction of the German military and the prosecution of war criminals. A special commission would also determine war reparations. But the most significant issue, the one that marked the conference in history, was Joseph Stalin’s designs on Eastern Europe. (Stalin’s demands had started early with his desire that the location of the conference be at a Black Sea resort close to the USSR. He claimed he was too ill to travel far.) Roosevelt and Churchill attempted to create a united front against the Soviet dictator; their advisers had already mapped out clear positions on Europe and the creation and mission of the United Nations. They propounded the principles of the Atlantic Charter, formulated back in August 1941, that would ensure “life, liberty, independence, and religious freedom” for a free Europe and guarantee that only those nations that had declared war on the Axis powers would gain entry into the new United Nations.

Stalin agreed to these broad principles (although he withdrew his promise that all 16 Soviet republics would have separate representation within the United Nations), as well as an agreement that the Big Three would help any nation formerly in the grip of an Axis power in the establishment of “interim governmental authorities broadly representative of all democratic elements in the population… and the earliest possible establishment through free elections of governments responsive to the will of the people.” Toward that end, Roosevelt and Churchill gave support to the Polish government-in-exile in London; Stalin demurred, insisting that the communist-dominated and Soviet-loyal Polish Committee of National Liberation, based in Poland, would govern. The only compromise reached was the inclusion of “other” political groups in the committee. As for Poland’s new borders, they were discussed, but no conclusions were reached. The conference provided the illusion of more unanimity than actually existed, especially in light of Stalin’s reneging on his promise of free elections in those Eastern European nations the Soviets occupied at war’s end. Roosevelt and Churchill had believed Stalin’s promises, primarily because they needed to—they were convinced the USSR’s support in defeating the Japanese was crucial.

In fact, the USSR played much less of a role in ending the war in the East than assumed. But there was no going back. A divisive “iron curtain,” in Churchill’s famous phrase, was beginning to descend in Europe. More on This Topic

Question: At which resort did Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin meet in a major conference in February 1945?
Answer: Yalta